


Debeo

by DWilde1891



Series: Decorus [2]
Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Lecter Series - All Media Types
Genre: Curtain Fic, Fluff, M/M, Murder Husbands, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 07:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5530817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DWilde1891/pseuds/DWilde1891
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Decorus timestamp. </p><p>How Will and Hannibal get married, at Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Debeo

Meat was roasting slowly in the kitchen, it’s heady, enticing aroma drifting through the house. From a far corner the strings of classical music, too vague to identify, echoed at the corners of Will’s consciousness. At the moment he was distracted, fingers dark with charcoal as he sought to shape what he saw in his mind. Sometimes it was easy. A fury of perfect expression. This was different.

“Daddy!”

Will had seconds to raise his hands before the full weight of an eleven year old boy launched into his chest. Vaguely winded, he pressed his lips to Joshua’s thick black waves and shooed him away.

“Papa says you’ve been here long enough.” he pulled away to insist, expression sincere and earnest as it always was when he followed one of Hannibal’s instructions, “You must join us.”

Half smiling, Will nudged Joshua away, “I’ll come, I’ll come. Just let me wash up first.”

Like the methodical terror he was, Joshua dutifully followed Will every step of the way from studio, to bathroom, to parlour until he had completed his errand. Once Will had been delivered, he settled without fanfare into the armchair he had long ago claimed and collected the nearest book from the top of the increasingly large pile. From a glance Will surmised it to be Ovid Metamorphosis. In modern Latin, because he wasn’t quite ready for the initial translation just yet.

“How nice of you to join us.” Hannibal drawled, handing Will a cup of what smelled like hot wine and pulled him into a loose embrace, lips tracing his cheek before resting against the curve of his ear, “I missed you.”

Will smiled and moved his head so they could kiss properly, “I was out of your sight for two hours.”

“Love cannot be adequately measured by the allocation of time.” Hannibal retorted, even as his eyes glittered with faint playful admonishment.

“I missed you too Hannibal.” he murmured, because he had, because even short periods away from one another just couldn’t be borne. Not anymore.

“Our boy is content with his gifts. Are you ready to receive yours?” he was smirking, ever so slightly, Will merely raised an eyebrow and Hannibal relented, “It is the season, after all.”

This home of theirs was possibly most like the one Hannibal had once owned in Baltimore. An old, sturdy townhouse in the centre of Stockholm. It was mid afternoon and already dark outside, snow drifting by the windows as they remained isolated from everything not quite them. The walls were bright, floors open wood and rooms flowing into one another, aside from this one, which Hannibal had transformed into something of a haven.

An open fire crackled merrily before a deep red rug, logs of wood piled delicately alongside. The rest of the room glittered with deliberate application of crystal, designed to play against the lighting on the Christmas tree so that the season continued in the corner of your eye. It was lovely, and mildly disconcerting, just like Hannibal.

“Yes, I am ready to receive mine.” he smiled.

Delighted, Hannibal took the glass he'd barely sipped and returned to the mantle piece. Will watched him, half smiling, before cutting a look at Joshua who had stopped reading. No one else would have noticed, he had observed much of his body language from them after all, but it sharpened Will’s interest. The first thing he saw when Hannibal turned was the small, black velvet box in his hand and he knew at once what was happening.

“We are already married in all the ways that count.” Hannibal said softly and Will was flooded with the sensation of their love all over again. Simultaneously the best and worst thing he had ever known. Suffocating beneath the weight of continual enlightenment. Bound by freedom. Of body, mind and spirit. Finding life through death. Balance through imbalance.

“There is no other equal.” Will murmured.

“Not in this world, or the next.” Hannibal vowed.

Their gazes held as Will reached out for the box. He flicked it open, glanced at the simple platinum band, “Do you have one that matches?”

“Yes.” he responded, a little prim, as if he would ever leave a task like this incomplete, “Will you wear it?”

“Only if I get to slip yours on your finger.”

Unsmiling, eyes fixed on Will, he said with a low sense of urgency, “Joshua. Could you?”

Placing the book aside as fast as he dared, Joshua hopped off his armchair and all but ran back into the house. Will wanted to smile but couldn’t. It was interesting that Joshua had kept this secret. He had been taught to lie to others, but never to them. To anyone else it would be an innocent enough secret, but if he had done it once, there was the possibility he could do it again.

“His terms were explicit.” Hannibal said softly, reading Will’s mind as usual, “Joshua does not like lying to you, not even for reasons such as this.”

Will softened a little, but he was still a tad unhappy, “I look forward to hearing how you managed to undermine the one cornerstone of our family we explicitly agreed on.”

“With great difficulty and faith that the end would justify the means.” Hannibal’s expression was serious, dark eyes full with the heat of his hunger.

“Just don't do it again.” Will warned, as Joshua skidded back into the room, socks keeping him moving even as he attempted to stop. Arms out, he collided neatly with Hannibal’s side, only to hide his face in embarrassment once he’d fallen still, Hannibal’s arm wrapped around his narrow shoulders.

Will grinned, “Did you find what you were looking for?”

Without moving his head from Hannibal’s hip, he held out a box for Will to take.

“Come Joshua.” Hannibal’s smile was indulgent, “We would like you to bear witness.”

There was a pause as he composed himself before stepping back, and taking his place between them. Will pulled open the second box. It contained an identical ring, slightly bigger to accommodate the thicker size of Hannibal’s fingers. Usually this would be an occasion for family and friends, a celebration of two people’s love for one another. Considering who they would be dining on today, it was unlikely they would find anyone willing to share or understand the reasons why they exalted one another above all else. Aside from Joshua, who blunted the edges they would have turned on one another otherwise. Long ago. When their taste for destruction and one another seemed impossible to ever truly satisfy.

“What would you like me to do?” he asked, serious once more.

“Just watch, and listen, as I tell your father how much I love him.” Hannibal answered soberly, gazing into Will’s eyes with a depth of certainty and faith he never thought he'd truly earned, “From the moment you told me you did not find me interesting, I was certain your mind needed to be changed. That I would carve out a place in your heart in which only I could belong, where anyone else would be but a shadow.” he took Will’s hand slipped on the cool ring without the slightest hint of resistance, “You and I are bound to one another Will. I would have this ring be nothing more than a physical representation of that which is true deep in my soul. From now until eternity.”

Will picked at the edge of the box before removing the ring, toying with it lightly between his fingers, “I couldn’t bear to look at myself until you showed me how. Dragged me kicking and screaming from my chrysalis into this world made new by fresh perception.” he reached out for Hannibal’s hand, running a thumb over large, overworked knuckles, “I could not be without you Hannibal and I will love you until that gift grows beyond my reach.” and he slipped the ring on, their fingers twined, content in the warmth of their house with their son standing and watching keenly between them.

“Are you going to kiss?” Joshua questioned, “That’s what you’re supposed to do.”

Hannibal tugged Will into his chest and bestowed a sweet kiss on his lips, before suddenly pulling away and collecting Joshua from the floor, “Come. Christmas dinner is ready.”

Will poured them both a glass of champagne as Joshua set the table. By now he didn’t require further instruction, not for something as simple as this. The table was decorated with candles and pine, more subtle hints of glitter as the snow continued to sweep by outside. Unlike Hannibal’s dark mahogany theatre of old, they had a smaller, circular table made of light oak that was only ever set with three places. It didn’t matter where they sat, their son would always have his place between them.

From the kitchen nearby Hannibal delivered the vegetables, sauce, with a two plates containing meat from their most recent kill and a third with the traditional turkey. One thing on which they both agreed wholeheartedly is that they would never lie. If Joshua asked a question they would answer to the best of their ability, yet at no point would they try to coerce him. Killing and consuming was a choice Will and Hannibal made. It is the way in which they chose to live their life. Asking a child to partake in something they could not comprehend was barbaric.

Handing Hannibal a glass, Will slipped an arm loosely around his waist, pressed a kiss to his cheek, “Thank you, for this.”

Hannibal glanced at him, before leaning in close and whispering, “It would be ash without you.” another soft kiss on his cheek, lips, “I love you Will.”

Joshua called them impatiently over and Will smiled, kissed him back, “I love you Hannibal.” and reluctantly drew away, smiling as his ring caught the light. Seasons greetings indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Translation:
> 
> Debeo: to be bound by


End file.
